» Parents of American student Knox indicted for libeling police in Italy

Parents of American student Knox indicted for libeling police in Italy

Published: Tuesday, February 15, 2011, 23:00 [IST]

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PERUGIA, ITALY: The parents of the American student Amanda Knox on Tuesday were indicted for libeling police after claiming law agents abused their daughter after her 2007 arrest over the murder of a British student.

According to the ANSA news agency, Curt Knox and his wife Edda Mellas gave an interview to the British Sunday Times in 2009 claiming that Amanda was not given an interpreter, food and water as well as sustained physical and verbal abuse by the Perugia police.

The indictment read that Amanda's parents contrary to the truth accused Perugia police officers of mistreating the murder suspect. Knox and Mellas were also accused of falsely claiming that the defendant was hit in the head and was threatened to prevent her from requesting a lawyer.

Knox, 23, has been in prison for three years after he was sentenced to 26 years of imprisonment for murdering her flat mate Meredith Kercher on November 2, 2007. She was ordered to stand trial for libeling police in November 2010.

She was sentenced in December 2009 for murdering Kercher, a British exchange student, and for defaming the owner of the bar where she worked. Her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 26, and Rudy Guede, a drifter and small-time drug dealer, were sentenced for the murder as well.

Kercher's body was found semi-naked and with her throat slashed in what appeared to be a home burglary. Knox, Sollecito and Rudy Guede started a sex game but Kercher refused to participate. Sollecito hold the victim while Knox tabbed her to death.

Sollecito was later sentenced to 25 years in prison while Guede was sentenced to 16 years of imprisonment. In January, Knox's lawyers secured the re-examination of DNA evidence. Knox has also begun her appeal against the 26-year sentence.